The New Haven Marching Band is back at it again! Their plan this year is to perform in the 47th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in St. Louis, Missouri. The parade will take place on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 12:00 pm in downtown St. Louis.

On December 17th, the New Haven Middle School choir and band will perform alongside the New Haven High School choir and band for the Christmas concert.

The middle school band will perform “The Christmas Machine," “Silver Bells,” and “Winter Medley.”

The middle school choir will perform the songs “Twelve Carols of Christmas,” “Winter Troika,” and “Believe.”

The high school choir will perform the songs “Silent Night,” “Falalalala,” and “In Winter.”

The high school band will perform the songs “T’was the Parade Before Christmas,” which is included due to the fact that the NHHS Marching Band was unable to perform in the Holiday Parade of Lights in Washington, MO on December 5th as originally planned due to scheduling conflicts. The other songs the band will perform are “A Christmas ‘Pop’ Sing-Along,” which includes popular Christmas songs, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time,” and “The Three Kings.”

Come out to the High School gym this Thursday to support the music students of New Haven and to get into the Christmas spirit!

On Saturday, December 5, the New Haven High School’s National Honor Society held the second annual Jingle Jog 5K Run/Walk to benefit the New Haven Track Project.

This year’s race brought out 86 jingle runners! Senior Lauren Bergner stated that she believes that the run had a great outcome, and many people looked like they were enjoying themselves and having a lot of fun.

This year’s gold sponsors were Branson Construction and Thrivent Financial, the silver sponsors were Peoples Savings Bank, Citizens Bank, Bank of Franklin County, RoadID, and LeRoy Strubberg and Association, and the bronze sponsors were New Haven Family Chiropractic, New Haven Veterinary Clinic, New Haven Lumber, and Pratt's Pharmacy. RE/MAX Today and Save A Lot donated bottled water, and Astral Glass donated tumblers for the top runners.

The week before Thanksgiving break, New Haven High School had their 10th annual Leadership Week. Student Council hosts the annual event to raise money for a local charity. This year they chose to donate the proceeds to low-income families in our community to help pay for their utility bills this winter. $400 was raised throughout the course of the week.

Student Council President, Lauren Bergner, explains the background of Leadership Week. “The purpose of Leadership Week is to join groups of people together who normally don't associate with one another and to use teamwork to overcome the many challenges we throw at them over the course of the week.”The week consisted of Penny Wars, tug-of-war, trivia, an obstacle course challenge, and warm fuzzies.

On Friday, November 27th, at 6 pm, the New Haven Marching Shamrocks will participate in Washington’s Holiday Parade of Lights. This year’s parade theme is Christmas Traditions, following along the lines of popular Christmas music and costumes. The parade will wind through the streets of downtown Washington, Missouri, and participants and audience members will be all decked out in lights and decorations of the band’s choice.

The New Haven Marching Band chose to perform the song “T’was the Parade Before Christmas” which is a medley of popular Christmas music including "Jingle Bells," "Carol of the Bells," and "Joy to the World."

The parade route is:*south up Cedar Street to Fifth Street*east on 5th Street to Elm Street*north on Elm Street to Second Street

*east on Second Street to Jefferson Street*north on Jefferson Street to Main Street*west on Main Street to Cedar Street

The parade officially ends in front of the Farmers’ Market, where Santa will then make an appearance for photos. See you there!

On Friday, November 6th, some members of the New Haven High School band decided to travel to Springfield, Missouri to participate in MSU’s Band Day. This is a great opportunity for high school students to shadow the college students in order to gain some information about the band department of Missouri State University. MSU Band Day offers a chance for high school students to become an instrumental music major for a day. Sharon Brewster, Abby Perdue, Joshua Lindley, Nathan Allgaier, Carolyn Allgaier, and Rachel Connell decided to take up this opportunity.

At Band Day, the guests had the chance to speak to band students and the professors. Many different types of professors crowded the hall. Many of these professors have knowledge of a certain type of instrument and they helped to answer any questions concerning instruments.

On Sunday, November 8th, the New Haven High School National Honor Society (NHS) helped plant trees in the park as a part of their service project for the 2015-2016 year. In all, there was 27 members in attendance. The students worked as diggers, planters, waterers, and mulchers. Because of their hard work, 51 new trees were planted in the park. On behalf of the community, a big thank you goes out to the National Honor Society of New Haven High School!

Starting the season, five new freshmen joined the squad. Freshman, Mikayla Maloney, states, “I'm learning the cheers easily with the help of my team. The team is very supportive and willing to help. The cheer team is family. I’m looking forward to cheering at games and showing off my school spirit.”

On Thursday, October 22nd, New Haven schools had a half day. During the afternoon, the school’s FBLA raked 16 yards around town. There are over 160 students in this organization who were split into 6 different groups. Each group raked an average of 3 yards. On average, each group finished raking their yards within an hour and a half. This time included raking, filling up the trucks with leaves, and then taking the leaves to the dump.

The last day of Red Ribbon Week was Thursday, October 29. To celebrate, students were asked to wear Halloween costumes and FCCLA sponsored the annual costume contest. Mrs. Miller, the FCCLA sponsor said, “ I thought all of the costumes looked great this year. The judges had a tough time deciding the winners.”

The judging took place in the morning before school. The judges were Ms. Kelly, Mrs. Hausmann, and Mr. Gortney.

The first place went to the Coaster Crew by Michael McKernan, Alison Long, Logan Huff, Kate Weiser, Nicki Zeitzmann, Paige Adams, LeeAnna Linton, and Lexie Nixon. Linton stated,”I think my group did really well! Making the coaster took a lot of time, but it was so worth it! We are going to Steak ‘N Shake with the money we won.”

The New Haven Marching Shamrocks ended their hectic marching season with a bang. A score of 77.5 out of 100 landed the band first in their class. Trailing behind with a 71 was Maries R-I, otherwise known as Vienna, taking second place. Third place was given to Mansfield with a total of 69 points. The auxiliary took a caption of outstanding Color Guard as well to wrap up the season.

Carolyn, a flute player of the marching band, states, “I’m happy we reached our goal for the year. I have to give it to the band - that was probably one of the best marching seasons I’ve had in my four years of marching. We clearly did an incredible job!”

After Sullivan, the New Haven Marching Shamrocks were prepared to perform in Washington, and their performance on Saturday, October 3rd showed just how hard the band has been working to practice for competitions.

Scoring first in their class with an overall score of a 78.00 out of 100 was something the band was excited about. Caption scores were taken out of 200. The marching band gathered the following captions: outstanding music performance with scores of 193 and a 156, outstanding marching performance with scores of 120 and 155, and auxiliary with a score of 172.

Hearing the news of the win was a shock to some members of the band. Saxophone, Ereka Bailey, quotes, “I was very surprised. Some of the band members were talking about how they messed up in certain places of the song, but I thought we sounded pretty good!”

Their next stop is Mizzou, on October 10th at 9:00 A.M., to perform in the homecoming parade. The crowd is larger and the route is longer, so the marching band is preparing to step up their game and conquer the route.

On Saturday, September 26th, the New Haven Marching Band traveled to Sullivan, Missouri to attend the 28th annual Sullivan Marching Festival.

The Sullivan Marching Festival features a morning parade and an afternoon field competition where marching bands from around the area come to compete. During the morning parade, bands are separated into classes or groups in which they will compete against one another to win either first, second, or third place. The bands can also score captions for best drumline, auxiliary, and drum major.

On Friday, September 18th at 5:00pm, the New Haven Marching Shamrocks will be rehearsing for the New Haven Balloon Race Parade. Dressed in uniform, the Marching Shamrocks will march from the New Haven Lumber Yard to the High School. The parade route will be as followed: Circle Drive Right on Maupin Left on Emmons Left on Douglas Right on HWY 100 Left on Park DriveThroughout the day starting at 7 am, you can help fund the Music Boosters at the BBQ in the Save-a-Lot parking lot. Come and cheer on the New Haven Marching Shamrocks before the Balloon Festival parade on September 26th!

New Haven High School is known for many things: academics, athletics, and our tradition of excellence. NHHS offers a variety of clubs for people with many different interests and talents to join. Student Council (STUCO) is advised by Mrs. Katie Borcherding and is a representative structure for students through which they can be involved in the affairs of the school, working in partnership with school management, staff, and parents for the benefit of the school and students. This year’s officers are Lauren Bergner as President, Maddie Fleer as Vice President, and Brooke Reed as Secretary. Mrs. Borcherding pronounced, “I love being the STUCO advisor because it is always exciting. We have so many different activities and they are really creative events. I think that we've had a really successful organization for many years running now because our members and officers are so involved.” STUCO is in charge of Pack the Gym, Flood the Field, Cram the Course, Leadership Week, the Veterans Day breakfast, Winter ball, Homecoming, Street Dance, data match, spirit week, and much more!

This year, the New Haven Marching Band season is in progress once again. This organization is a part of our school’s tradition of excellence, and it is a great responsibility and honor to perform in the marching band. The marching band is made up of instruments, flags, and poms and each student puts forth their greatest effort to ensure the performance is ideal. “The students in the band are some of the hardest working students in the high school. I am impressed everyday at the effort they are putting forth this marching season,” band teacher, Mrs. Koch, states about the efforts of the students involved in the marching band.

On October 16-17, the New Haven Marching Shamrocks will be given the privilege to travel to Missouri State University and perform in the Homecoming Parade. The band director, Mandy Koch, states that this trip will be a “fun and new experience for our band” The marching band will leave for Springfield on a Friday since the journey is a 3 hour drive, and they will spend the night at the Comfort Inn Hotel. Parents are welcome to join in on this exciting trip if their student is involved in the New Haven marching band.

On May 8, 2015, the New Haven High School had its spring band concert. The concert consisted of the New Haven Elementary 5th and 6th grade bands, the New Haven Middle School 7th and 8th grade bands, and the New Haven High School 9th-12th grade band.

The night started off with the three choirs coming together to sing the song “Sing to Me.” Next, the elementary school took the risers to sing three songs: “Cameroon,” “A Child’s Credo,” and “Michael Finnegan.” Once the elementary choir finished performing, there were some awards to be given. The rookie of the year awards were given to the following: Dakota Bridges, Mikayla McFerrin, Aubri Meyer, and Ellie Westermeyer. The most valuable singer (MVS) award was given to Shauna Boehmer, Casey Jo Baker, Madison McCarty, and Abby Seitter.Following the elementary choir was the middle school choir. They performed “Like the Beat of the Drum,” “All the Pretty Little Horses,” and “Blackbird.” The awards were given after the song “All the Pretty Little Horses.” The middle school’s rookie of the year award was given to Luke Gerlemann. The MVS awards were given to Samuel Penny and Russell Pinnell.The last choir to take the stand was the high school choir. They performed four songs: “Brush Strokes,” “Say Something,” “I Hope You Dance,” and “Songs of a Disney Princess.” The song “I Hope You Dance” was a dedication to the seniors from the rest of the choir. The seniors were asked to be seated as the choir sang the song. Senior Karissa Durbin stated, “The dedication song almost made me cry. It was almost bitter-sweet because that night it finally hit me that it was my last high school choir concert.” Stephanie Russo commented, “My favorite song was ‘Songs of a Disney Princess,’ even though many people got emotional in the ‘Say Something’ song.”When the choir finished, Mrs. Taylor, choir instructor, announced the awards. Anna Miller received an All District Choir and National Coral Student Award. Nichole Zeitmann, Anna Miller, and Hanna Fitts received an award for attending state as a trio. Mrs. Taylor stated, “I think the concert went very well, and I am very proud of all the students who worked hard so that it went well.”Overall, to end the 2015-2016 school year, the elementary, middle, and high school had a successful choir performance. -Jenny Alvarez

On May 5, 2014, the New Haven school district held its annual spring concert and awards. The concert included the elementary school, middle school, and high school choirs.